Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Rated by LAist.com as the best Frozen Yogurt in LA I just new I had to try it. A friend and I visited the creamery this past Friday and to our surprised we both loved the Double Wonder- sea salt and caramel, sounds gross/weird but it's actually really good, tastes more like vanilla than salt or caramel. The Super Bee flavor that LAist mentioned, with ginseng and honey, was too gingery for our taste.As LAist mentions, the yogurt is organic and all the toppings are homemade. My swirl of Double Wonder was topped with the raspberry-basalmic sauce which complimented the salted sweet taste of the yogurt perfectly.

The servers at Tutto Tutti are super nice and don't mind letting you try any flavor you'd like. So out of curiosity I tried almost all of them! Their 6 flavors include: Virgin (plain), White Velvet (vanilla), Seven (with seven grains blended into the yogurt), Freckle Snow White (plain layered with black sesame seeds), Double Wonder and Super Bee.

Tutto Tutti is located at 6803 Melrose Avenue at the corner of Mansfield.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

It was complete fate that I ended up having dinner at Osteria Mozza last night.Monday afternoon I read on Just Jared that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rosedale celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary at Osteria Mozza in LA, obviously since in LA this week it especially peaked my interest. That night, on my way home from a friend's house, I actually drove pass it and the enormous crowd waiting outside to be seated. Then Tuesday after work I took home the September issue of Bon Appetit magazine. As I'm sitting on the couch flipping through the mag I notice that Osteria Mozza is listed as one of the best Italian restaurants in America! I immediately ask my friend's mom, whom I'm staying with, if she's been to the apparent hot-spot. And she replies "funny you should ask, we have reservations there tomorrow night!"

The next morning I do a little more research on the restaurant and discover that it's owned by Mario Batali (famous chef who also owns 6 restaurants in NYC), Nancy Silverton (owner of Campanile in LA) and Joseph Bastianich; all of whom also own the restaurant next door, Pizzeria Mozza. Reservations are hard to come by, rumor is that reservations are needed 30 days in advance for a table at Osteria Mozza (seats at the bar are for walk-ins).

The menu at Osteria Mozza is very impressive with an entire section dedicated to the free standing Mozzarella Bar where Nancy, who was there last night, prepares a wide array of fresh items from Mozzarella, Bocconcini, Stracciatella and more. Our party of 7 enjoyed theBurricotti with braised artichokes, pine nuts, currants & mint pesto (pictured here), Goat Cheese Ravioli, Tagliatelle with oxtail ragu, Crisp Duck al Mattone with pear mostarda & Brussels sprouts, and a side of corn and onions.For drinks we ordered lemon drop martinis and the 2004 Tocai Friulano.The space is lovely with dark wood work throughout, white marble table tops, dark chocolate-colored walls and tall ceilings bordered with Robin Egg blue paint.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Last night I met a friend from college who now lives in LA at Lola's in West Hollywood. It is the perfect little after work place, tucked away on Fairfax Ave, between Melrose Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. Their drink menu is jammed packed with different martini options including Red Caramel Apple Martini and the Star F*cker Martini, neither of which I had but they sounded pretty interesting. Instead I opted for a glass of Pinot Grigio and the cheese and fruit platter.They also have live jazz on Wednesday nights starting at 8pm and happy hour Mon.-Fri. from 5:30-7:30pmSide note worth mentioning: Scenes from The Hills have been filmed here!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

It's only my 3rd full day in LA and I just saw Britney Spears!!! She was leaving the dance studio at 6755 Hollywood Blvd. We assume she was holding auditions since she wasn't wearing a dance outfit and her hair wasn't up, plus we saw dancers coming into the building even before we knew Britney was here and they were freaking out saying they were late for a very important audition.I didn't get the best shot ever from the 7th floor but you can clearly tell she's wearing the same purse she did earlier this week at Blockbuster with her sister.Here are the paparazzi shots when she first arrived to our building this afternoon: X17Onlinep.s. the paparazzi in the white shirt in the background spotted us through the 7th floor windows and was blowing kisses at us, waving, taking pictures of us, etc. So funny!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

As my friend said, Nook is a true neighborhood gem located on 9th Ave. between 50th & 51st. It's a total hole in the wall BYOB place that only has about eight tables. The couple next to us even brought their own pitcher of sangria. Last night there were five of us, which is probably the biggest party I'd feel comfortable bringing to this restaurant. We ordered the Mushroom Cigars with White Truffle Oil for us all to share, they were amazing! Three of the five of us ordered their main salad with roasted pears, blue cheese (substituted for goat cheese instead) and candied walnuts with a citrus vinaigrette that was very good.Nook is open for brunch, lunch and dinner the menu for all courses is available on Menu Pages.Even though they don't have an official website they do take reservations, just call 212-247-5500

After diner we headed to a members-only mixology club where reesrvations are a must. This place is so exclusive that many New Yorkers think it's an urban myth, but I garentee you it's not. I don't want to ruin it by saying the name but wanted to share the experience. Despite being an exclusive club complete with rules it wasn't "clubby" at all, there is no dancing and in fact you don't really even see the other patrons. Everyone sits in tall booths and there is basically no lighting, just lights around the bar and one lit candle on each of the tables as well as on the trays the servers carry. The server came to our table asking what mood we were in and to give her an adjective that describes what kind of drink we're craving. My one friend said "refreshing," I said that I usually like mojitos and always like rasberries and blackberries. When all the drinks were served we all agreed that, not only were the drinks delicious they actually matched our personalities perfectly. Let's just say, I'd consider myself lucky to go back to this "underground" spot. ;)

Last weekend my friend and I ended our day of West Village shopping by having dinner at the glamorous Bobo restaurant on W. 10th St. (near 7th Ave.) restaurant which is located in a hundred year old brownstone.According to the OpenTable write up, the name Bobo is derived from the melding of "Bohemian" and "Bourgeoisie" and refers to a group of people who straddle the creative Bohemian realm and the Bourgeoisie world of economic achievement.

All the menus (drinks, dinner and desserts) change seasonally. This summer/early fall they're serving a lot of seafood including sea trout, wild sea bass and seared scallops. The drink of choice for the night seemed to be the Collalto Prosecco. The 100 seat space wasn't at all crowded when we sat down for our 7pm reservations but was definitely crowded by 9:30pm. Vegetarians may want to wait until the winter menu debuts but if nothing else, drinks and desserts are great. For dessert we had the Almond Tart with raspberries and honey yogurt sorbet which was excellent!

p.s. The romantic European decor would be a cozy place to have a bowl of butternut squash soup so fingers crossed it's on the winter menu. ;)

Located within Le Parker Meridien Hotel (on 57th St. near 6th Ave.), Norma's is definitely known as one of the best places to have brunch in NYC. Even though we had reservations the three of us waited for a good 30-40 minutes. Not to worry though, it was fun people watching. I wanted to try a bite of almost everything on the menu which was categorized by clever headlines like "Mom Can't Make This" that included gourmet breakfast dishes like Caramelized Chocolate Banana Waffle Napoleon, PB&C Waffle 'Wich (chocolate waffle a peanut butter and toffee crunch filling), French Toast (super moist french toast with an orange infused Honey drizzle) and Breakfast Nachos (strawberry, banana and pineapple on tortilla chips drizzled with chocolate)- which, by the way, I do think my mom could make, in fact, I think I could make that and serve it at a breakfast and/or dessert party. ;)(photo above is the Caramelized Chocolate Banana Waffle Napoleon)

"Somethin' Fruity" featured McCann's Irish Oatmeal Brulee (with sauteed green apples and red pears) which sounded pretty interesting and Crunchy Pecan and Macadamia Granola (with dried fruit and fresh berries) which I did have and it was probably the best granola I've ever had. It even kept me full all day and gave me plenty of energy for the Nike Human Race that evening.

"Benny Sent Me" lists five different style of Eggs Benedict while the "Egg Cellent" section showcased eleven different kinds of eggs including five different kinds of omelets and even The Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata which starts at $100 for the Regular 1 oz Sevruga Caviar and $1,000 for the Super size 10 oz Sevruga Caviar. (I seriously wonder how many people order this a year.)

If you're looking for an impressive someone with a memorable brunch I definitely recommend Norma's, just be sure to call ahead for reservations and be prepared to spend a lot of money. (On the plus side, it might be the only meal you eat all day. Haha)

Friday, September 05, 2008

What a fabulous spot, and it's open 24/7! Perf! Even though I don't like to repeat restaurants this may need to be a late night stop whenever I'm in Chelsea (17th St. & 7th Ave.)!Despite its name, Cafeteria has been serving gourmet comfort food since they opened their clear garage-type doors back in June of 1998. Four amazing ladies from M.I.S.S. Crew and I had lunch there this afternoon and loved it! Even though the hot spot is famous for their mac 'n' cheese we all decided for other delicious options on their menu including the Tomato Basil Soup with a Grilled Cheese Crouton (so good, and clever concept!), Yuca fries, Veggie Burger with Fries, Country Breakfast (two sunny-side up eggs, cheese grits, sausage, buttermilk biscuit and mixed greens), and Silver Dollar Pancakes (fresh berries and Chantilly cream). All in all, this was a fun spot with great food at pretty reasonable prices.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Yesterday I participated in The Nike+ Human Race in New York. The Human Race was was the world's largest one day race, bringing together runners from 5 different continents 26 countries to run a 10K race. The New York race was held on Randall's Island with 10,000 participants and an average race time of 1:02':04". Each race event ended with a celebratory concert, ours was the All American Rejects! Overall the race and the concert were fantastic- tons of people, high energy, great sponsors, nice location outside of the city during sunset along the East River. And no matter where I'm living next year at this time I plan on running this race again. ;)Check out race times from around the world HERE.More about the New York race CLICK HERE.All American Rejects trash talking video- Go New York!